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Spring is the best time of year not only for cleaning your brick house but also for your more important house – your body.

So we have some tips for some ‘internal’ spring cleaning to help you feel great inside & out.

One great way to quickly restore balance & enjoying good health is to completely experience the ‘present moment’ – in a ‘transcendent’ way, not a stressed way.

Funnily enough, by far the best teachers/examples of this are young children. Before we ‘grow up’ too much, a young child’s world is full of fascination, wonder & innocence (lack of judgement/labels). To observe this state of unbounded freedom & simple joyousness actually helps that same health producing ‘vibration’ resonate within us.

I’ve just been spraying my face with rose water, massaging my temples with almond oil and looking at the green plant on my desk. Weird huh? Well maybe not. Do you get sore eyes from looking at your computer all day? Do you get headaches, or worse, is your eyesight deteriorating? Over stimulation of the eyes (especially from computers) is a common cause of long term eye problems as well as strain and fatigue short term.

The good news is that there is a simple solution…pick up your computer…and throw it out the window!!!

This is just a simple reminder for anyone looking to lose weight.The most important thing in losing weight is to…..NOT TO FOCUS ON LOSING WEIGHT.

Focusing solely on ‘what we weigh’ is a recipe for disaster and often results in compromising our health.

Everyone of us is different, and you have a healthy (ideal) weight range for your particular body type – pre-determined genetically.Some people are naturally slim – these are the people with a ‘high metabolism – commonly known in scientific/technical terminology as ………….’BASTARDS’.Others are NATURALLY of a bigger build (the ‘cuddlies’). This is perfectly normal & healthy for them.

Not sure if you saw the email some time ago about the Philosophy of Charles Schultz – the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. Anyway, I thought it was so good so I’m copying it here.

You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read the questions through, and you’ll get the point.

Are you or any of your friends one of the many people who have given up butter in favour of the ‘supposedly’ healthier margarine? Let’s take a look at one (not the only) reason why I think you’ve been conned. Have you ever heard of Trans fats?…you’ve almost certainly eaten them and possibly in something you considered healthy. Unfortunately, it’s another case of food manufacturers tampering with ‘natural’ foods and turning them into ‘harmful’ foods, ironically in the name of health.

So what are Trans Fats?

Bring Nature to You:

Ever noticed that by the end of the week, you just want to ‘get out of your stuffy office’ and ‘get some fresh air’/get back near Nature? One of the best ways to avoid that feeling as well as to improve your mood, workplace productivity, energy levels & resistance to illness is to bring Nature to you.

A study by Professor Margaret Burchett, of the University of Technology, Sydney, found that potplants can reduce air toxins by as much as 20%. A study on houseplants has shown they reduce, fatigue, sore throats & cold symptoms by over 30%. What about at work? Studies in Europe have shown potplants in the office can reduce ‘sick leave’ by 60%.

Plants not only give a bit of ‘life’ & colour to our sometimes ‘over-business like’ office environments; they can literally help reduce stress, offset the various toxic emissions from things like computers, mobile phone radiation, synthetic carpets, paints etc, increase mood and productivity & reduce absenteeism.

Do you ever get sweet cravings, even though you have just eaten? Ever wondered what to do about them?

Here’s 3 simple things that can help.

Do you like salad sandwiches because they’re easy & healthy? Do you think eating ‘rabbit food’ all year round is a good thing?

While it’s true salads / salad sandwiches etc are better than a pie & chips (most of the time!), in winter it’s important not to overdose on salads. While reducing your chances of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, the ancient science of Ayurveda, explains that too much ‘cold’, ‘dry’ (non-oily) rabbit food (especially in winter), can increase your incidence of joint pain, digestive & circulation problems, migraines /headaches, lowered immunity (more colds/flu’s) etc.

We always talk about our everyday thoughts/feelings are by far the most powerful influence on our level of health. If you are not spending enough time on the things that nourish you emotionally, that can spell trouble.

We want to make sure our life balance/priorities are in order.

What do you think is the single-most damaging thing is for one’s health, motivation & success? That’s a difficult tone, but “other people’s (negative) opinions” would have to be right up there. Simply put, a lot of people sabotage their health or success, solely because they don’t have the internal strength to disregard what others think.

Do you (or someone you know)- not leave work earlier (at a reasonable hour), because you’re worried about what others / co-workers etc will think – drink more alcohol or eat more sweets etc because of pressure from others…”What are you a teetotaller?” “a little cake won’t hurt..just to be ‘sociable’! – put pressure on yourself financially just to make a good impression (new house, car, clothes etc)?

“Don’t be a Cow” …nothing personal, I’m talking about ‘grazing’. Grazing – eating lots of small meals regularly throughout the day has become an all popular pillar of many weight loss & energy boosting regimes in recent times. It came about because most people generally eat ‘too much’ at any given meal, thus overloading their digestion, leading to sluggishness & weight gain etc.

Science therefore looked for ways to increase our metabolism. Of course, research showed that eating food increases metabolism! Therefore it made sense to modern science to advise eating smaller meals more often – as a way of keeping metabolism active! Now, this logic makes sense when you consider metabolism ‘in isolation’ – which modern science loves to do. However, remember ‘health advice’ like this (and fad diets like Adkins etc) generally come about from findings based on one narrow result – e.g metabolic rate/weight loss – they are almost never based on the fundamental laws of nature that support ‘all-round health’. So, while many people feel better on this ‘grazing’ regime, the improvement is due to the fact they are not overloading their digestion at any one time, not the fact they are eating ‘more regularly’.

Why is that whenever you go to a Chinese restaurant they never serve you ice water in a jug … only warm tea? Hmmm!

What is one of the simplest, yet most profound things you can do to protect yourself from getting sick (colds & flu’s etc), to avoid that ‘heavy/depressed’ winter feeling, improving circulation, minimising arthritic pain and constipation, helping your body do a daily detox, and helping with weight loss – particularly winter weight loss?

 

Do you ever get tired of trying to be a dynamic, high energy, high activity person all year round? Well the good news is, you not only don’t need to be, but it’s actually healthier if you don’t try to be. That’s right. You see, the ancient science of Ayurveda explains that just as there are daily ‘rejuvenation’ cycles (you can’t be dynamic during the day if you don’t get proper rest at night), there are also powerful ‘seasonal’ cycles of rest & activity.

While spring & summer is a time for more activity and dynamism, winter is the exact opposite – a time for more rest… a bit more ‘Hibernation’!!! Just as the rest of ‘Nature’ quietens down (hibernates) during Winter to prepare (re-balance) for the warmer months, we humans are designed to do the same though not necessarily to the same degree.

Having trouble getting to sleep or would just like a more settled sleep?

From Western science, we know that an essential amino acid called ‘tryptophan‘, helps promote sleep. In Ayurvedic science, we know that ‘warm nourishing’ things, help settle the nervous system and therefore assist settled sleep. Put the two together and
we see why ‘warm milk’ (milk contains ‘tryptophan’) is a great age-old remedy* for sleep.

Metabolism is one of the popular buzzwords these days. Like to make sure your metabolism – basically the process of converting food into energy and using that energy (calories) to run your body – is at its peak? If you are having trouble shifting a few kilograms, feeling a little sluggish or just want to stay energised and feeling great, try these.

Are you enjoying good Work-Life Balance? If so great, if not read on for the all important first step.
We know creating better life balance is about being clear on what’s most important/meaningful for us, eliminating the ‘small’ stuff & prioritising etc etc, however many of us never get around to doing it…because our life is so full/’busy’.

To enjoy the life balance we desire, we need to break this cycle and create some ‘space’ in our life. Without periods of space, silence…doing ‘nothing’ (argggghhhh!), we can never truly know what it is that we most desire, what it is that will bring us the balance & fulfillment we crave.

Step 1 Towards Better Life Balance:

Here are a few key stretching tips for keeping your muscles & joints flexible & free.

1. Stretch ‘After’ Exercise / Activity:

When aiming to increase your suppleness/flexibility, it’s always best to do so at the end of some exercise or activity session. This is when your body temperature is higher and muscles etc are naturally able to stretch more comfortably and it is actually an important part of a good cool-down anyway – to reduce post-exercise muscle tightening & waste products etc.

Do you think that there are 10 things, far more important for your health than eating the right food or exercising regularly etc?

Backed up by both modern & ancient health science research and based on the now irrefutable truth that, your ’emotional health’ is far more important long-term than physically ‘being healthy’- having the ideal diet etc (that is still good), we have devised a special list of ’10 more important things for a healthy, happy life than proper food & exercise’. We will send out one of these regularly, starting today. We hope you enjoy.

There’s nothing like a cold or flu spreading through an office or workplace to sabotage individual and team productivity and performance.

Would you like to cruise through winter this year without coming down with a cold or flu? If so, then ‘now’ is the time to get preventing.

The seasons are a changing and now (Autumn – on the change of seasons) is when the imbalances that cause colds & flu’s start. Follow the tips below to enjoy a cold & flu free winter this year.